Battlefield 1 trailer, beta sign-ups, and revealed details

I’ve watched the Battlefield 1 reveal ‘event’ so you didn’t have to, and aside from a one minute trailer and a lot of vague talk from DICE people about how definitely-amazing this one will be, there wasn’t a great deal else.

What little was confirmed are things you could probably have ascertained from this being a new Battlefield title; but nonetheless, here’s what was revealed.

Battlefield 1 is indeed set around World War 1 (just WW1, no weird alt-dimensional twists), and may finally spread the word beyond students of history that WW1 wasn’t just the trenches of the Western front. There were naval battles and everything. The silly name is apparently because WW1 was the ‘dawn of all-out warfare’, so, therefore … Battlefield 1? Maybe the truth is just that Battlefield 1914 didn’t focus-test well, I don’t know.

Anyway, this game will have maps based around the Western front (obviously), but Italian Alpine fortresses, and the deserts of Saudi Arabia also got a mention (oil was a big deal, even back then). As the trailer (below) depicts, vehicles like biplanes, naval warships, zeppelins, tanks, and, yes, horses, will all feature. Gas attacks will be a potential threat, and gas masks can be equipped to help deal with that. Flamethrowers look to be present too.

Plenty of destruction is promised in the usual Battlefield style (although the discussion around this was very vague), and 64-player multiplayer battles will be returning in Battlefield 1 as well.

There’ll be a single player campaign in the game too. Not a whole lot was said about this either, other than it’ll be a story told from the viewpoints of multiple characters, so you’ll be hopping around different locations.

Battlefield 1 has a worldwide release date of 21 October, and beta sign-ups (by way of joining up as a Battlefield Insider) are being taken right now.